ESpee, Im using ABS plastic for all my printing. The parts can be very rigid but that all depends of course on the design... fill density, wall thickness. My cab will be 5 times stronger in places than a regular stock body and im liking the girth of the fenders and hood so far. I made them on the thicker side..but when you hold them they dont feel heavy because the interior has an "honeycomb" structure, as i call it, see the latest pics. Id be very interested in finsing out what it costs to chrome some plastic parts. I think i can process the parts to have a nice smooth surface so the chrome would look halfway decent.
Thanks Joe! glad you stopped by... more to come, Im printing the remainder of the hood today so i should have an assembled pic later on.
Brick, and Goose Thanks. Yes this technology has fascinated me since i first saw it back in 03 at the P.R.I. show in Orlando..Ten years ago i said i need that. Yes the possibilities are endless..
However, it does take quite a bit of trial and error to design a part that will print correctly. The printer has some limitations. Cutting up a part to be printed in sections is almost a good idea for a project such as this because when printing a ledge or overhang support material must be printed below that overhang.
Here is a good example of Support structure and Fill density.
Just about finished
Depending on how you place the part on the print platform really affects the finish..I placed this part so the finished side faces up so there is not support material or Raft to remove from it. The print time is affected too if alot of overhang needs support material. That support takes time to build and more material is used. And the time can be adjusted based on the print quality settings. Im at 4 hrs per fender(actually a complex part) Normal speed and .15mm layer height, which is the finest i can print with my machine. The better finish you want..the longer it takes...That still applies here even though im not getting my hands dirty.
After i have removed the support structure.
Of course there are much better machines out there that use lasers to melt/bond parts inside a bed of powdered plastic or even metal.. which will come out in one peice but you can buy a house for the same price. More to come...